Undamaged virgin hair is smooth and shiny; its cuticles on the surface of the hair lie down smoothly making the combing easy. The hair surface is also hydrophobic in nature preventing excessive water absorption during washing. When the hair is either mechanically damaged through back combing, heavy brushing, or chemically damaged through bleaching, perming or coloring, the hair surface becomes rough and frizzy and difficult to detangle and comb. As the hair surface becomes more hydrophilic, the resulting hair fibers swell during washing, making the hair even more difficult to comb.
Current conditioning and/or styling systems for regular and damaged hair generally use one or more combinations of cationic surfactants, amphoteric surfactants, silicones, fatty alcohols, polyquaterniums, amino acids, proteins, lipids and humectants. Wet conditioning of regular or damaged hair is accomplished by neutralizing the anionic charge of the hair by positively charged surfactants and polymers and creating a hydrophobic layer from surfactant and polymers. This hydrophobic layer results in a reduction of the swelling of the hair fibers by making the hair more hydrophobic and smoothening the cuticle layers thus and reducing friction of the hair fibers. An overall result of wet conditioning is improved detangling, manageability and soft feel of the hair. Upon treatment with cleansing systems like shampoos, 2/1 shampoos, body washes or shower gels, the combing performance, detangling properties, hydrophobicity of the hair and lubricity are not maintained sufficiently.
PCT application No. 2014/071354 assigned to Hercules discloses a personal care conditioning and/or styling composition for a keratin substrate comprising: (i) about 50 wt. % to 95 wt. % of at least one cationic or pseudo-cationic monomer selected from the group consisting of acrylamidopropyl trimethylammonium chloride (APTAC) and/or Vinylpyrrolidone (VP); (ii) about \ wt. % to 30 wt. % of at least one anionic monomer selected from the group consisting of (a) acrylic acid (AA), (b) acrylamido methylpropyl sulfonate (AMPS), and/or (c) sodium methyl allyl sulfonate (SMAS); and (iii) about 0.1 wt. % to 20 wt. % of at least one hydrophobic monomer selected from the group consisting of (a) polyoxyethylene (PEG)-18-behenylether-methacrylate (BEM) (b) Lauryl-ethoxylated-methacrylate (LEM), (c) stearyl acrylate (SA), (d) Stream-10-allyl-ether, (e) Vinylcaprolactam (V-cap), and/or (f) Hydroxyethyl-pyrrolidone-methacrylate.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,110,451 assigned to Calgon discloses a conditioning composition comprising: (a) about 5% to about 50%, by weight, of a surfactant component selected from the group consisting of anionic surfactants, amphoteric surfactants, cationic surfactants, nonionic surfactants, and zwitterionic surfactants; (b) about 0.05% to about 10%, by weight; of a water soluble, organic, ampholytic polymer conditioning agent (c) about 0.05% to about 10%, by weight, of a water soluble, organic, cationic polymer conditioning agent; (d) zero to about 70%, by weight, of a water insoluble liquid; and (e) an aqueous carrier wherein said ampholytic polymer conditioning agent of (b) is comprised of (A) at least one ethylenically unsaturated cationic monomer and (B) at least one ethylenically unsaturated acid containing monomer.
US Publication No. 20150053361 assigned to S.P.C.M.SA disclose a polymer complex obtained by polymerization of water-soluble monomers in the presence of a host polymer comprising vinylamine functions and of a non-polymeric transfer agent, and in the absence of branching or crosslinking agent of ethylenic polyfunctional type.
In view of the foregoing, there is an increasing demand for hair care products designed to retain the properties of “virgin hair” and to prevent possible damage during the chemical and mechanical treatment. In the present application, the limitations set forth above are addressed by a personal care conditioning and/or styling composition for a keratin substrate comprising: (A) at least one conditioning and/or styling copolymer obtained by polymerizing (i) about 0.1 wt. % to 99.9 wt. % of at least one cationic or pseudo-cationic monomer selected from the group consisting of acrylamidopropyl trimethylammonium chloride (APTAC) and/or diallyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DADMAC); and (ii) about 0.1 wt. % to 99.9 wt. % of at least one monomer comprising at least one functionalized or unfunctionalized acryloyl moiety and at least one lactam moiety; (B) at least one cosmetically acceptable excipient; and optionally, at least one effective amount of personal care active ingredient